Offspring of the Gods
by Sci-Fi Nerd
Summary: The history of the Yuuzhan Vong on Yuuzhan'tar and their long-forgotten war against machines. The split between Steng and Yo'gand has occurred, with Thass and his fellow warriors caught in the middle...
1. Machines

Disclaimer: I do not own or make any profit from any characters created by George Lucas and the other writers who have worked on the Star Wars series. I only own the characters and place names I have created myself.  
  
-Sci-Fi Nerd  
  
Prologue- Machines  
  
The dark battle fleet maintained its position at the edge of the solar system, stealth-painted metal hulls glimmering with reflected starlight and bristling with active weapons emplacements, their gunners on hair-trigger reflexes. Vast mechanical orbs conjoined in a hexahedral pattern by beams rotated slowly, presenting no one face towards any possible enemy for more than ten seconds. Smaller, diamond-shaped patrol craft whizzed around their larger companions, positioned with their tips pointing up and down relative to the orientation of the planet they faced.  
Even from this orbit, the planet occupied by their collective gaze was breathtaking. Three fair-sized moons of glassy, volcanic rock swung in complex paths around the verdant equator, maintaining the delicate balance of the magnificent ring system that shrouded the centerline of the world on an acute angle. Crystal seas swept over large regions of the surface, and picture-perfect ice caps stopped in a precise border so as to prevent damage to the well-groomed forests that covered the planet's land masses.  
On the surface, the beautiful globe was even more of an Eden. The trees stood tall and unafflicted by disease or sabotage, the various leaves ingested by insects fallen to the ground as if offerings to the docile creatures. Predators simply walked up to healthy individuals who had fallen to the ground in submission, sacrificing their flesh willingly for the sustenance of the ecosystem. Vonduun crabs scuttled playfully about, testing the reflexes of the vangaak offspring swimming eagerly in the inland lakes and freshwater seas.  
Thass Domain Yenek was busy tending his sparkbee hives behind his grashal when he was given the news. The male Yuuzhan Vong had taken a break from refilling the nutrient sacks attached to the outrigger pods meant to mimic budan blossoms, the main source of nectar for sparkbee honey. At that exact moment, someone barged right into the grashal's front entrance, gasping for air.  
"Thass! Thass!" Khette Domain Hiimane railed, grasping the doorframe for support. "Dreadful, dreadful!"  
Thass stopped, confused. Khette was the district supervisor of this quadrant of Yuuzhan'tar, and, while being a somewhat timid individual, was always grounded in reality and not prone to such excitable outbursts as the one Thass was witnessing now. Besides being his supervisor, Khette was one of Thass' oldest and closest friends; they'd shared many a tankard of gyason ale while discussing the klekket's harvests.  
"What is it, Khette?" Thass asked, extending a long, lean arm to grab the rich larthor towel-beast that hung sleepily on its nest by the doorway and using its subtly wriggling form to dry the sticky portions of his forearms. "What's wrong?"  
The other Yuuzhan Vong leant against the doorframe, fear practically seeping from his pores. His trembling chin and wide eyes only perpetuated an air of panic around him.  
"I've just been with Yuuzhan, along with the other district supervisors, and it seems-" he stopped to gasp once more for breath, and Thass interrupted him.  
"Sit down, old friend, sit down," he said, grabbing the other's arm and pushing him into a seat at the rough yorik coral table, gesturing to the grashal's ngcar to dispense a glass of strong beer for the other Yuuzhan Vong. "Take a drink, and tell me what's happening."  
Khette downed the glass of liquid in a single gulp, causing Thass to blink in astonishment. Khette had never been a heavy drinker; whatever information he carried had to be serious.  
"It's a- a-" Khette searched for the words. "A fleet!"  
"A fleet?" Thass said, puzzled. "The vangaaks don't migrate for another five klekkets."  
"No, no!" Khette said, frantic. "In space, at the edge of the planetary system!"  
"What?"  
"Yuuzhan says it's a war fleet!"  
Thass grew cold, his heart clenching in on itself, unable to speak. War was among the most taboo of activities, forbidden to the Yuuzhan Vong by Yuuzhan itself, their guiding light in the universe, the regulator of the planet's biosphere. "War?" he muttered to himself.  
"Yes!" Khette practically screamed. "They mean to march on Yuuzhan'tar!"  
"But how...?" Thass asked faintly, brain swarming with the magnitude of all this information. "What do they attack with?"  
"Machines!" Khette said in awe.  
"Machines?" Thass said. Yuuzhan had told them of these 'machines', claimed they were unnecessary for the Yuuzhan Vong, but held no hate for them.  
"We are on the brink of the abyss," he felt himself saying, not knowing why he said those particular words, but knowing in his heart the dire truth of them.  
  
Battle Commander Dar'than V'g'no'kor of the Kar'shan Legions looked upon his assembled troops in the amphitheatre of his flagship vessel 211A476BB; reveling in the might he was entrusted with. Every single one of the Kar'shan soldiers was the epitome of generations of training and modification by mechanical implants. Some bore massive steel-alloy claws protruding from clenched fists, others, bulky energy cannons supported by segmented neck joints. The elite of his troops, his ultimate warriors, stood in ranks at the head of the crowd, ranged behind D'harhan, his second in command. The massive laser cannon that was affixed in place of a skull on his body commanded instant fear and obeisance in all except Commander Dar'than himself, and the segmented tail meted out punishment to those not swift enough in genuflection.  
"Legions!" Dar'than roared suddenly, thrusting chrome-plated fists into the air and extending the razor sharp blades implanted in his knuckles. "Our time is at hand!" In his excitement, his chest-plate slid aside to reveal the revolving barrels of a laser turret, lit for battle. "You have gazed upon a new world, a new conquest for the Cremlevian Order! The blood of the pitiful race that smears this new paradise will purify our hands!  
"They will be cast down like the slime they are!"  
His followers roared their devotion, and Dar'than couldn't restrain the booming laugh that escaped out of his mechanized throat and tinted his implanted eyes a vicious red... 


	2. Cortex

Thank you, GayRon, for giving me a push on this next chapter! –Sci-Fi Nerd  
  
Chapter 1- Cortex  
  
When Thass and Khette arrived at the Hall of Confluence on the equator of Yuuzhan'tar, they discovered that over twelve thousand other Yuuzhan Vong had already arrived to hear whatever Yuuzhan had to tell them of this threat to their peaceful civilization. The call had gone out for listeners yesterday, but Thass knew that many of his friends and their families had stayed behind for fear of the dark battlefleet in the heavens.  
The Hall of Confluence was a massive building, a radiant combination of aesthetic and structured order. Huge bone pillars carved with beautiful designs and adorned with flowers spiraled up to a perfumed roof that rained occasional small birds of many colors. Soft fountains bubbled in far corners, and the music of the water echoed from the walls.  
In the center of the hall stood a platform of carved bora wood, situated so that the hall's acoustics would enable a person speaking from the platform in a whisper to be heard by anyone in the chamber. At this moment on the tall platform, the gracious form of Yuuzhan stood in his glory, wearing a long loincloth of woven leaves, and a crown of blossoms.  
When Thass, Khette, and the others who had arrived late had oozed into the packed chamber, the doors were swung closed, and Yuuzhan began to speak.  
"Yuuzhan Vong!" he cried plaintively, clearly aggrieved. "I weep for what we are forced to do to protect our civilization! We have always loved life, and happiness, but now we must learn a new way, one of pain and sadness!"  
The world consciousness paused to collect himself, and then raised his hands, and a dark mass shaped like a Yuuzhan Vong's brain free of any concealing material rose out of an opening in the floor. All the assembled Yuuzhan Vong shied back in fear of the strange object.  
"Behold!" cried Yuuzhan. "The cortex of the Yuuzhan Vong!"  
One brave man dared to step forward and question the world consciousness. "What is this thing for, Yuuzhan?" All twelve thousand others moaned in fear and agreement.  
"This is how we will protect ourselves against the machine lords!" Yuuzhan said. "In this is contained the knowledge to grow weapons and ships so that we may fight our enemies; we must, however, be cautious! These are not to be used lightly."  
"You intend us to fight?" someone else cried.  
Yuuzhan hung his head. "We have no choice!" he declared, "Unless we choose to face extinction!"  
  
Thass found himself assigned to the 'warrior caste'. There were three of these 'castes': warriors, shapers, and priests. The warriors would fight the enemy, while the priests kept the more common people calm through a religion that they could throw together around this 'cortex' that the Yuuzhan Vong had been given; the shapers would be the ones to grow and nurture the organisms that the Yuuzhan Vong would use.  
It took four days, using the most dangerous of rapid-growth techniques also gifted to the shapers by Yuuzhan, to grow equipment for one half of the ten thousand warriors assigned at the time of the great conference. Thass then found himself confronting modified breeds of animals he had known, and tended, most of his life.  
Vonduun crabs, genetically manipulated to conform to the body shape of its Yuuzhan Vong wearer, stared up at him with blank, armored eye sockets. Mid-stage amphistaff polyps, their energy glands enlarged and accelerated awaited only their owner's command to curl around the vonduun crab bracer. Mutated breeds of Thass' own beloved sparkbees slept in pulsating sacks, now named thud bugs for their armor and explosive reactions.  
The first time Thass reached out for his vonduun armor, he twitched back in startlement as the beast latched onto his arm, and fell off as he drew back. He took several deep breaths, realizing that this was all a necessary discomfort, and reached out again.  
The modified vonduun crab clamped down hard on Thass' arm, crawling its way up his muscles with astonishing speed. Swiftly, it separated its two massive segments and closed tightly over Thass' midsection, squeezing the breath from him until it fastened itself safely, and then it relaxed enough to allow him to breathe. Next came the bracers, leg plates, and groin panels, in a similar manner, though not as painful in their attachment; perhaps he'd just gotten used to it.  
The amphistaff was easier: it simply slithered onto his bracer and coiled protectively on command, then lay quiescent with red eyes glaring up at him. Thass drew in a shuddering breath, then picked up the thud bug bandolier and slung it around his shoulder, and placed the final piece, a helmet, onto his head. The slit eyeholes allowed plenty of peripheral vision, but Thass was forced to fight a thrill of claustrophobia as it closed around him.  
"Thass Domain Yenek?" came an imperious voice from behind him.  
Before he knew it, perhaps pumped with adrenaline or high-strung from the prospect of impending fighting, Thass had whipped around, slinging his amphistaff into a two handed grip effortlessly and putting all his strength behind the blow.  
And found it locked helplessly against another amphistaff, wielded by a shorter but heavyset Yuuzhan Vong who stared up at him with a cocky glint in his eyes.  
"Ah, you too wish to test these new weapons?" the other asked knowingly. "I am Yarth Domain Shai. Come, spar with me; we shall see who the better of the two of us is."  
Thass opened his mouth to politely refuse, but strangely, he felt a burning sensation arrive in his stomach, and he felt his body tense in anticipation of a fight. It was a... strangely pleasant feeling.  
"Very well," he found himself saying, not without anticipation. "I accept."  
There was a moment's pause while both of them nodded to each other, and then they sprang into combat.  
Yarth led the attack, swinging high and double-handed with his amphistaff, putting as much power as possible behind the blow. Thass thought for a microsecond that neither of them knew anything about fighting, and then his body moved of its own accord to block the strike one- handed. Yarth's weapon crashed down on his with overwhelming power, and even as Thass' amphistaff began to fluctuate backwards, he found that his body was already moving to the right to avoid the downward-falling blade, and his right fist came up to catch the other Yuuzhan Vong in the jaw, making him reel backwards in pain.  
As the two stumbled apart, Thass realized with a shock that you didn't have to know how to fight. It was just like wielding an axe or a carpet beater; you only had to calculate force, speed, and distance.  
Yarth gave him a challenging nod, and Thass saw the comprehension in his eyes as well. Then, both of them leapt back into the fight with a vengeance.  
Thass blocked three successive blows at his midsection with a whirling amphistaff, and then suffered a punishing blow to the shoulder with the flat of the other's blade. He ducked the next strike, lashing out with the amphistaff like a whip, its now flexible form curling around Yarth's shins. A quick yank sent the other Yuuzhan Vong to the floor, and Thass whipped an over-handed blow at the prone warrior with a cry of victory.  
Yarth let the amphistaff come down past his guard, twisting away at the last second and hooking his foot around one of Thass' ankles, attempting to pull him down as Thass had done to Yarth.  
Thass managed to avoid falling though he stumbled back awkwardly, allowing Yarth to close quickly with him and flail away rapidly with his stiff blade.  
This was when Thass caught his ankle on the edge of one of the equipment storage tank's organic legs, sending him to the floor and driving the wind out of him.  
Yarth's amphistaff stopped at his neck.  
"A good fight," said Yarth after a moment when both of them had gasped for breath; they weren't in the best physical condition they could be, and neither of them, as Thass knew, really knew how to fight.  
Then, they realized that all sixty Yuuzhan Vong who were also in the chamber at this time were watching them with open mouths. A gap appeared in their ranks as the two weary Yuuzhan Vong rose to their feet, and Yuuzhan stepped through, still wearing his flower crown, though it had wilted slightly.  
"A truly remarkable beginning," he said sorrowfully, as if he truly did not desire any of his children to fight against even a world- threatening force from the skies. "If all the others take to their weapons as easily as you, we will have nothing to fear.  
"Come. It is time for you to meet your spacecraft."  
  
The field was speckled with huge gray and blue formations of coralskippers, triangular ships composed of yorik coral and augmented by creatures called dovin basals, which apparently manipulated gravity and propelled the craft.  
Thass was led to one of the coralskippers, a very slim type that boasted four small plasma launchers in its nose as well as a belly-mounted dovin basal and a bubble cockpit shield of iron-hard mica. The uneven surface of the living spaceship seemed to radiate peculiar warmth, as if blood flowed beneath the rock of its skin. Thass stroked the side of the vessel almost unconsciously as he walked in a slow circle around it.  
"Well?" came the soft voice of Yuuzhan from behind him; Thass turned sharply and looked at the weary, glowing face of the planetary mind. "What do you think?"  
"It's... beautiful," Thass said.  
"Why don't you get in?" Yuuzhan prompted softly, a flash of sorrow crossing into his eyes as Thass obeyed eagerly.  
He found, however, that once he was ensconced in the cockpit, nothing was familiar to him. Strange pulsating organs and devices decorated the instrument panels, and a strangely shaped hood lay on top of it all.  
"How do I pilot?" Thass asked, bewildered.  
Yuuzhan chuckled, a warm, rich sound that flowed like liquid honey. "Put on the cognition hood, and the ship will instruct you."  
"It's... conscious?" Thass asked.  
"Of course," said Yuuzhan. "Put on the hood."  
Thass reached out for the fleshy device, prodding it fearfully before sweeping it up in one grand motion and slapping it to his face. The warm skin started to slip for a second, and then it contracted, fastening itself to his skin. The sensation of being blind caused a thrill of fear to rise in his breast before an alien mind reached out to his, forming words.  
Thass Domain Yenek, it said. Instruct this ship as you wish.  
Thass was lost for words.  
  
At the end of the first week of the transformation of the Yuuzhan Vong, Yuuzhan stood on his high balcony above the Hall of Confluence, staring down upon the training warriors with great sadness encompassing him like an aura. Tears slid slowly down his face, and his hands were forced to bear all of his weight as they rested on a railing, his knees giving way beneath him.  
In less than a week, the Yuuzhan Vong had adapted from a tranquil, frightened species into a race of warriors taking speedily to the new religion. Skills were honed brutally and fast, and already, talk of glory and death was beginning in the camps.  
"We are changed," he whispered softly. 


	3. First Blood

Chapter 2- First Blood  
  
The first battle between Yuuzhan Vong and the Kar'shan Legions occurred over the third moon of Yuuzhan'tar, Tar'Dalya, or, the Crèche of Stars, as the Yuuzhan Vong name it. It was a fairly well-sized globe of solid volcanic glass that shimmered with blinding reflected beams of blue sunlight, turning space around it into a pantomime of moonbeams mingling with the distant stars.  
The Kar'shan Legions had targeted the outermost satellite because of the traces of iron and crystallized minerals embedded in its crust, materials that could prove useful for the technologically advanced warfleet. The Yuuzhan Vong had no use for the moon, but Yuuzhan had predicted it as the first likely target of the stalwart mechanized aggressors, and so coralskippers and one larger vessel, a thamalok, comparable in shape to a spiny fish of great size, had been based upon its surface.  
Thus far, the Kar'shan Legions had neither detected nor anticipated any resistance from the peaceful Yuuzhan Vong that populated the planet. So it was that when the first troop carriers descended to the moon's surface, they were completely unprepared for attack.  
The cubical drop ships, basically troop racks with engines, had barely begun to disgorge their cargo of half-flesh, half-metal warriors when a front wave of thirty coralskippers, striated in green and blue, the colors of life, boiled over a nearby ridge, plasma cannons flaring with orange discharges of energy. One of the massive troopships disintegrated almost immediately under combined fire from the living ships, and many of its warriors were crushed under its falling mass.  
The other five of the first wave hurriedly released the last of their holding clamps as they withstood multiple impacts of magma missiles, the heavier weapons of the biological assault group, and the sea of mechanized soldiers streamed away from the drop point, raising weapons and preparing to die bravely facing the deadly airborne assault.  
It readily became apparent, however, that either the pilots or leaders of the enemy attacks were unused to the concept of battle. Once deprived of the easily visible troop carriers as targets, the coralskippers wavered, clearly unsure about what to do next. The warriors shouted encouragement at each other, and began to fire at the living vessels. The shouts quickly fizzled as energy bolts disappeared into nothingness, bending and flickering out like flames as they drew near to the coralskippers' skins.  
One of the warriors, D'harhan, strode forward, unimpressed with the strange alien craft. His laser cannon activation panels blinked in an instant from pacified green to a burning, angry red, and all the nearby troops backed away in fear. Bracing himself against the ground, D'harhan triggered his cannon and shook as it discharged a heavy laser bolt.  
Unprepared for such a concentrated attack, the coralskipper D'harhan had aimed at was unable to raise sufficient void power in time, and the dovin basals failed to stop the attack. The red energy beam punched straight into the main body of the vessel, spearing through the plasma storage gullet located underneath the cockpit. The living ship had less than one point five seconds to communicate distress to its pilot before the superheated material exploded out of its confinement, reducing the craft to shreds.  
A rallying cry rang out from the rest of the robotic troops, and suddenly, the coralskippers found themselves facing a storm of red and green laser bolts pouring skywards in their direction. Several, shaken by either fear or indecision, exploded into large pieces as the hail of energy proved too much for their voids. Most of the others simply pushed their dovin basals to rocket them skywards, levering them up above the aim of the warriors on the ground.  
Then, the thamalok cruised over the ridge.  
The massive ship was close to four hundred meters in length, all of it arched smoothly and radiating fins and spines bristling with plasma cannons and dovin basals. All of the firepower of the mechanical invaders immediately shifted to concentrate on the capital ship, but the thamalok shrugged off the firestorm and opened fire.  
Round after round of massive plasma balls tore deep into the ranks of the Kar'shan Legions, leaving charred bodies where it did not vaporize them where they stood. Weapons and armor melted away in the extreme heat of projectiles even passing near the troops, and they screamed in anguish as their own protection cooked them inside a boiling, hardening shell of molten metal.  
As the thamalok brought itself about for another pass, several lights appeared on the horizon; the drive glows of approaching ships. Content with the destruction it had wrought, the thamalok and coralskippers turned and powered away from Tar'Dalya, the Crèche of Stars.  
  
Commander V'g'no'kor stood, a towering, quivering edifice of power made more dangerous by the rage in his eyes, looking down upon D'harhan and the few survivors of the Tar'Dalya landing squads. Blades emerged from his fists without his having realized they did, and when he struck the nearby ship's bulkhead in anger, the three foot razor-sharp stilettos punched through hardened steel as though it were plastic. His minions quailed at the visible display of their commander's fury, fearing that they might be the next victims of the sharp blades.  
"How?" V'g'no'kor finally hissed, spraying spittle from clenched teeth to spatter D'harhan like droplets of blood, causing a rare flinch to erupt from the mechanized being's shoulders. "They have no combat capability! The scouts were perfect! How could this happen?"  
The voice synthesizer built into D'harhan's chest cavity spoke slowly, mechanically, and without inflection or emotion to represent his distress. "My lord, we cannot say. Somehow, the Yuuzhan Vong have acquired a means of defense, and faster than we could have feared in our darkest dreams. The ships are... strange, my lord. They are not constructions of steel and alloys, but living creatures in their own right. The warriors are confused."  
"I will not suffer this insult!" V'g'no'kor raged. "They defy the Cremlevian Order without knowing their peril. The Order demands that this system be taken, and quickly! How strong are their forces?"  
"Not strong enough, milord," D'harhan responded ponderously. "All we observed were flights of the smaller ships aided by a larger defense craft."  
"Observed?" V'g'no'kor screamed. "What if there are more? What have you NOT observed? Whom shall the blame for defeat fall upon if we are bested? Be sure or be slain!"  
"They are not capable of withstanding an all-out attack at this point in time, lord," D'harhan said relentlessly, clinging to whatever dignity he could.  
"At this point?" If it were possible, V'g'no'kor's voice grew shriller. "What of the future?"  
"If we stall, lord," D'harhan admitted. "It is likely we shall need reinforcements."  
"Then destroy them!" V'g'no'kor exploded. "Take all the ships, prepare all weapons, I don't care what it costs, I want that planet extinguished!"  
  
"They will be coming for us, soon," Yuuzhan's sad voice filled the Hall of Confluence, ringing with gloomy echoes from the high ceiling and carved pillars. Ten thousand of the warrior caste and one hundred priests stood restless before the world consciousness, their newly inflamed warrior hearts aching for a chance to show the enemy that they were not soft as they appeared to be. "It is inevitable. We do not have the strength to hold against them."  
"Then we will fight!" interrupted an unidentified voice from deep in the crowd. "If the shapers need time to create more weapons, then we will give them that time! Yun-Yammka will be drunk with the blood of our enemies!"  
Yuuzhan's head lifted in alarm. "We cannot hold back the storm!" he said, trying to calm the crowd that was slowly inching over the critical mass necessary to form the boiling flame of a howling mob of killers, bent on destruction.  
"Then we shall die proving we are faithful!" shouted another zealot, finally letting loose the pent-up fear, rage, and battle lust nestled in the heart of nearly every Yuuzhan Vong in the chamber.  
"Yun-Yammka!" screamed a group of warriors near the front, and those closest to them took up the cry. "Yun-Yammka!"  
Soon the entire hall was shaking to the battle chant, and Yuuzhan sank to his knees on the platform, weeping tears of bitter regret. Better that his children should have died than sweep along the terrible path this new culture seemed to be leading them.  
Suddenly, the Hall of Confluence vanished around Yuuzhan, and he looked up in startlement, noting an abrupt change in scenery. Massive stands of boras surrounded him, though different enough from the ones he knew that he wondered if he had been mysteriously transported to some other planet. He cautiously felt at the Force- the one thing he possessed mastery of without the participation of his children. The Yuuzhan Vong had no real understanding of the Force, and they had none of its restraining influence on their life to warn them of the dark path they were straying towards.  
Then, a gap opened in the trees, and a smiling youth came forward to peer up into Yuuzhan's eyes. He was of a species unknown to Yuuzhan, and his sandy hair and blue eyes seemed very innocent.  
Then, the boras vanished, and so did the child, and Yuuzhan found himself floating in empty space, staring at a pinwheel of stars, a massive galaxy rotating in the darkness of space. Suddenly, a shadow fell across the swirl of light, and it dimmed to a diffuse red glow that nevertheless shone with evil light. A line of people of the same species as the youth appeared, clad in robes and brandishing staffs of pure light, all the colors of the rainbow.  
He saw a Yuuzhan Vong child before them, saw the blades of energy poised at its neck... and remain still, merely preventing the child from moving. The Yuuzhan Vong child, weeping now, rose to his feet and looked the leader of the light-wielders in the eye. The being smiled, and reached out to take the Yuuzhan Vong's hand. Breaking into a smile, the child took it, and stepped forward to land on a platform of flowers and dancing insects. Playing happily, the child receded into the distance, and Yuuzhan felt himself slide out of the vision, back the pandemonium of the Hall of Confluence.  
Even though he confronted the spectacle of a well-intended decision racing horribly out of his control, Yuuzhan felt somewhat comforted by the mysterious vision. 


	4. Second Thoughts

Chapter 3- Second Thoughts  
  
Thass Domain Yenek stood among the husk of what had once been his home, his grashal, his life. The plated hide of the grashal had fallen into disrepair, flakes of whitened bone peeling back from the darker underskin, and the fixtures which had once been his furniture were starting to decompose into the floor of the grashal.  
He stood silently in the doorway, feeling the amphistaff at his side and conscious of the fact that this place no longer felt right to him. His vonduun armor and war accoutrements seemed to be too menacing to fit into such a loving, comforting place.  
Softly and swiftly, he moved through the grashal to the rear of the dwelling, the older site of the sparkbee hives. Taken for mass-reproduction to larger fields, his hives lay shattered and lifeless on the withered lawn, moss crawling up through the husks.  
A rustle came from behind Thass, but he paid it no mind, bending to let his armored fingers brush across the ruined hives. The glowing objects which had been central to his existence a few weeks ago were now dark, lifeless, and alien to the touch.  
"You linger in memory," observed a voice behind him, soft and cultured. Thass tilted his neck to get a glimpse of the intruder.  
"Do you long for the old days?" Yuuzhan said in that same quiet tone, gentle and yet overflowing with a thousand worries and sorrows barely concealed.  
Thass turned back to look at the sparkbee hives. For answer, he said, "They were joyful, once. Carefree, even."  
Yuuzhan knelt down beside him. A soft reassurance seemed to emanate from the world consciousness. "They were that," he said. "Now..." he gestured and an image congealed in midair: a bulky blue form with blurring wings. It impacted against a stone wall and exploded in pulp and exoskeletal fragments. "Now it longs only for destruction."  
Thass craned his neck back to look at the sky. The bright midday sun burned into his eyes through the eyeholes of his mask. A sudden rage filled him, and he tore the vonduun creature off his face, blood from abraded skin and cracked joints smearing across his face. It felt oily and unclean. He flung the dying mask over the wall of the garden, watching it disappear into the fields beyond. In the distance, he could see the spire of one of the growing battleships in the produce fields.  
"As do the Yuuzhan Vong," he murmured, his rage spent.  
"As do the Yuuzhan Vong," repeated Yuuzhan in confirmation. "I regret, now, giving them the knowledge of weapons and religion and production. I have grossly erred, but I cannot now abandon them."  
Thass suddenly felt an immense- was it sympathy? He barely remembered calm emotions, now- empathy with the world consciousness. How many of his once-peaceful children now lusted for the blood of their enemies? How many of their farming and building creations had been turned to destruction and death. How many had already been slain in this burgeoning war?  
As if in answer, Yuuzhan said, "Over two thousand Yuuzhan Vong have already died in battle against the invaders."  
"That is a considerable amount," Thass noted.  
"The warriors are breeding as fast as possible," Yuuzhan said. "They will not stop to consider what they are doing to their people."  
Thass turned and leant against the entrance back into the grashal. "They will not stop until the Cremlevian Order is expunged from the universe."  
"That is my fear," Yuuzhan said. "The Force is becoming steadily more unbalanced, I also fear."  
"The Force?" Thass asked, glad to turn the topic to things that did not incite images of coralskippers burning, metal-sheathed beings exploding in sparks- no! Do not think of it.  
"Ah, the Force," said Yuuzhan wistfully, floating past Thass to seat himself at the remains of the living area's seat. "Picture the universe as a web made up of all the planets and stars everywhere. The Force binds these separate parts together, connecting all life together."  
"All life?" asked Thass worriedly. "What of these machine users?"  
"All life," Yuuzhan confirmed. "The Force contains the potential for both good and evil; life enhances it, death is its diminishment. There will be great amounts of death here. The Yuuzhan Vong do not understand the concept of the Force as yet, but soon they will grow too knowledgeable not to. I fear they will learn the lessons of the Force too late."  
"Too late?" Thass asked, surprised. "Why can you not teach them?"  
Yuuzhan sighed heavily, shrinking in on himself. With a start, Thass realized that the world consciousness was... older, more wizened, than when he had last seen him. "I have erred immensely," he said sadly. "It was my intention to give the Yuuzhan Vong the knowledge to fight off the invaders, to save them. In my fear and uncertainty, I gave them a new system of belief to strengthen them."  
"The gods," Thass said with disgust. There were some, Thass among them, who were now realizing the paltry emptiness of their new religion. That he had even begun to think of them as real in his mind disgusted him.  
"The gods," Yuuzhan nodded. "I believed that the Yuuzhan Vong were too weak, too peaceful, to fight off these invaders on my mere command. So I gave them a new purpose, a new calling.  
"That was my greatest mistake." Yuuzhan paused to collect his thoughts. "I realize now that they would have stood the burden had I commanded it. The very ferocity with which they accepted this warned me of my blunder. Now that I have commanded them to accept it and delayed in the rejection of it, I no longer have any control over the Yuuzhan Vong."  
A solitary tear trickled down the world consciousness's leathery cheek, and Thass felt a deep compassion for him. In appearance, so like a Yuuzhan Vong, yet different, more gentle, and entirely more palatable than the mindless berserkers who now roamed in place of the once-humble Yuuzhan Vong.  
"There are those who are faithful," Thass told Yuuzhan, kneeling at his side. "I no longer wish to be a warrior, Yuuzhan. Let me help you."  
A large, spindly hand crept out to rest itself on Thass' head. "You are kind and brave, Thass of Domain Yenek. I know not yet what I must do, but when I come to any conclusions, I will call on you."  
"How will I escape being called to service again?" Thass asked. "I do not wish to fight again, not even against these machine abominations, filth though they are."  
Yuuzhan clucked softly. "Be wary, child," he warned. "The anger of the masses has not left you fully. Remember my lesson of the Force, and what it means."  
Thass bowed his head in chagrin. "All life is sacred," he murmured, as if in prayer. "I will try, Yuuzhan," he said.  
The world consciousness's eyes lit up suddenly. "I have an idea," he said.  
"What is it?" Thass asked excitedly. Surely, if anyone could rescue the Yuuzhan Vong from their plight, it would be their benefactor and caretaker. "What is it, Yuuzhan?"  
Yuuzhan chuckled softly. "It is not of importance to all, little one," he said. "But I may be able to prevent your return to the battles."  
"Oh, thank you," Thass breathed, throwing himself at his feet with a slap of bare flesh on bone. "Thank you, Yuuzhan!"  
Yuuzhan lifted up Thass' head with one of his hands and looked deep into the Yuuzhan Vong's eyes. "Go and gather ten of those you think are yet loyal to the old ways, who reject our new circumstances," he said. "Bring them to me at the Hall of Confluence."  
"What will you do?" Thass asked.  
"I will announce them as my personal guard, and take you to my personal habitation, deep in the planet. There you will be safe until I can decide my course of action."  
Thass could think of no appropriate words to thank the world consciousness, and so threw himself down once again and wept at his feet.  
"Hush," Yuuzhan said. "I have not finished. There, I will also endeavor to instruct you in the ways of the Force, such as I can."  
Thass was struck dumb with joy. "How...how can I thank you, Yuuzhan?" he whispered. "There is nothing, no service I can give worth the knowledge of the substance of life. You will instruct me in the greatest gift of all in exchange for mere service?" And he wept again.  
"Hush," Yuuzhan said again. "Go now, and do as I command."  
"Your will be done!" Thass whispered, and fled from the grashal with great haste.  
Yuuzhan sat for a while more, thinking in the midst of the decay and death of the abandoned grashal, his thumb unconsciously stroking the husk of a dead sparkbee lying on the table. Suddenly, with a buzz, the husk broke open and a tiny new organism flew out, millimeter-wide wings whirring with the effort of keeping aloft.  
Yuuzhan watched it flit out the window, and a smile broke on his face. There was hope after all.  
If he could not reverse the damage he had wrought, the Yuuzhan Vong would be left to their devices and prepared for a crucible that would wring a new life for them from the ashes of defeat and decay.  
The sparkbee was already dying. 


	5. Warmaster

Chapter 4- Warmaster  
  
Deep within the bowels of the Hall of Confluence, Thass sat nervously on a polyp chair, glancing agitatedly from time to time at the broadcast oggzil that was displaying the images from over two hundred meters above them. The Hall had changed, now. In the three klekkets since the commencement of the war against the machine users, the Hall had become a dark place, full of shadows and the faint acrid tinge of bloodsmell to the air. Yuuzhan's dais had fallen into disrepair, spared only because of a lingering respect for the once-leader of the Yuuzhan Vong. Altars surrounded it, decorated with idols of the vicious gods whom the transformed Yuuzhan Vong now served.  
Thass was disgusted.  
He had learned much at Yuuzhan's hands over the past half klekket. He could now feel the pulse of the Force, a soothing stream of energy which flowed through him. He could detect the presence of two others in the chamber, feel the foul hatreds and black hearts of the other Yuuzhan Vong above them, feel even the small flickers of life that emanated from the biological portions of the machine users far overhead.  
The battles had not halted in all the time since the beginning of the war. Many new coralskippers and thamaloks had fallen to the brute force of the mechanical invaders, yet the machine users were not gaining ground. None of their troops had reached the ground of Yuuzhan'tar as yet, and over two hundred thousand bodies had been recovered from the many transports that dotted the surface of the world.  
A flicker of motion in the image the oggzil was projecting caught Thass' eye, and he straightened nervously. Yuuzhan had appeared on his dais, and the excited crowds jostled nearer to him, murmurs spreading like lightning among them.  
"My children," Yuuzhan said sadly, slowly. "What have you now to show me?" Thass felt rage well up within himself at the violent dereliction of the formerly peaceful Yuuzhan Vong and Yuuzhan's grave error in direction, but he drew it out with a long breath. Uncontrolled rage would do him no good.  
"Yuuzhan!" shouted a deep voice, and a space parted in the crowd. "Our victory is at hand!"  
Thass forgot his calm and the Force as he recognized the Yuuzhan Vong who stood in the center of that gap. It was Khette! His old friend! What could he possibly be doing with warriors? He was not a fighting man.  
"We have long sought for a route to end this war!" he said, stalking in a slow circle. "Would it not be wonderful to do that as quickly as possible?"  
Yuuzhan shook his head sadly. "We do not know our enemy's full strength," he said. "This may not be all that they can bring to fight against us."  
"Then why have we not seen those reinforcements thus far?" Khette challenged him.  
Yuuzhan's eyes blazed, the first real display of anger Thass had seen in him. "Who are you to address me thus, warrior? I have cared for this world for millennia, and it would be as nothing for me to destroy you! You are only Khette of the intendants, and no warrior as I know you!"  
"That is where you are wrong!" Khette proclaimed. "I have cast off that name in favor of one that describes me better!"  
"And what might that be, warrior?" Yuuzhan said coldly, turning the honorific into a vile epithet.  
"I am Yo'gand!" Khette said in deadly monotone. "Yo'gand: Staff of Victory! The one who will hand the Yuuzhan Vong their victory over this vile coalition of machine users!"  
Surprise registered on Yuuzhan's face as well. "Victory?" he said. "Though I am grieved at the turn of events and would not shed a tear for the loss of some of you, I hardly think victory is near. Yo'gand," he added slowly.  
"You are wrong!" Khette shouted, and some of the crowd flinched, causing Thass to smirk. So, some of them still feared the world consciousness. "We have made our victory!"  
"Made?" Yuuzhan said, not bothering to conceal his confusion and irritation now. "What is this nonsense?"  
"Yes, made!" Khette- Yo'gand- shouted again. The man seemed to have only one volume for his voice. "I have brought this about. I have become a warrior and gained respect of all the castes! This victory will be my doing!"  
"Silence!" Yuuzhan boomed, and a deathly calm fell over the Hall of Confluence. "Will you no longer listen to reason, my children? Can you not see that the Yuuzhan Vong are embarked on a fruitless, self-defeating course? You cannot hope to enjoy victory any longer! You are consumed with bloodlust, and will never be sated!"  
A short laugh from Yo'gand was the only sound the filled the air after Yuuzhan's outburst. "You are again mistaken!" he said. "The Yuuzhan Vong have our gods and we will be gloried in the afterlife!"  
"Show me your 'victory', then, Yo'gand," Yuuzhan said. "How have you 'made' this salvation of the Yuuzhan Vong!"  
Yo'gand laughed again. "With pleasure," he said, and then turned towards the entrance of the hall. "Do'ro ik vong pratte!" he bellowed.  
A throbbing, humming roar filled the room, deep and powerful, and everyone started violently. Thass could feel the vibration through the roof of their underground sanctuary, and flinched in fear. The oggzil moved to show the entrance to the Hall of Confluence. The doors were flung open, and a massive dark shape was backlit against the stars outside.  
Thass reached out with his growing Force senses, and touched the creature hesitantly. A cold hand seized his mind and pried at his thoughts. A rage filled Thass, and he could feel the creature's manic bloodlust and vicious calculation as he struggled to free himself. Finally, he was let go with a sudden snap of mental energy that sent him reeling to the floor. Gasping, he wrenched his head around to look at the oggzil's image.  
Slowly, the figure stalked forward. It was even larger than at first glance, rising more than a meter over the heads of the tallest Yuuzhan Vong warriors. Spikes radiated from its humped back, and massive tusks protruded from its heavy, low-slung jow. Four red eyes glared out, and arms composed of three tentacle-like appendages similar to amphistaffs in appearance waved in triple warnings of death. Four shuffling legs bore the immense weight forward.  
The creature walked the whole length of the Hall to Yuuzhan's dais in silence broken only by its breathing and footfalls. It stopped there, looking up at the world consciousness for several seconds, almost as if assessing him, and then spun to regard the massed warriors.  
Then it spoke. "Yuuzhan Vong!" it gurgled. "I am your Warmaster! Behold the Vua'sa!"  
  
"It was angry," Thass said quietly as he sat in a small circle with Yuuzhan and the six others of their small group. "Angry, and cold. It had no emotions."  
"Yes," Yuuzhan said sadly. "It is a creature born of an insatiable desire to kill, and thus cannot be called anything but a monster."  
"Warmaster," one of the others murmured. His name was Krenek, a former sparkbee farmer like Thass. "What is a Warmaster?"  
"Yo'gand," Yuuzhan began, and then stopped, a disgusted look on his face. "How can that gentle man have fallen so far and so fast? In any case, Yo'gand intends this beast to lead the Yuuzhan Vong in battle. It is formulated to strategize and kill, and those two things only."  
"How do we get rid of it?" asked another of Yuuzhan's students.  
"We will be unable to," Yuuzhan answered heavily. "It is not right to kill in cold blood, and that thing is both sentient and able to touch the Force. It would kill many or all of us before we were able to rid this planet of it."  
"What is our course of action, then?" asked Krenek.  
"We must train you to fight," Yuuzhan sighed. "There is no way around it. I had hoped to only instruct you in peaceful resolutions, but it seems increasingly likely that in order for my plan to succeed, you will need to fight."  
Thass felt the bottom drop out of his stomach, but took a deep breath, and said, "We will do whatever is necessary to protect you and the future of the Yuuzhan Vong."  
"If we have a future," Yuuzhan said sorrowfully, and silence reigned. 


	6. Schism

Skywalker05, you deserve all the credit for keeping this story going!  
  
-Sci-Fi Nerd  
  
Chapter 5- Schism  
  
Thass sat, calm and collected, immersed in an invisible tidal pool of the Force. He could touch the great flow of life energy at will now, and begin to use its power; he had begun to experiment with reaching out to probe others, to gain knowledge and insight.  
There was much anger on his world, though. All of those Yuuzhan Vong not under Yuuzhan's wing were filled with rage and the furious lust for battle that had consumed his people. Even the Sky Bridge no longer became a symbol of peace and hope once the sun had waltzed down the horizon. Instead, it transformed into physical evidence of the gods, evidence that would encourage the mindless warriors to continue parading their bloody sacrifices and obeisance before their altars.  
He felt the powerful swell in the Force moments before Yuuzhan strode deftly into the small, underground chamber which served as a sort of place of meditation for the small, select group of Force-users Yuuzhan was developing. Whenever he experienced the world consciousness like this, in both physical and Force-derived majesty, he truly felt insignificant.  
"Yuuzhan," he murmured respectfully, bowing his head slightly. His brow furrowed as he fought past Yuuzhan's immense presence to catch a fleeting glimpse of his mental state. "What is wrong?"  
A deep sort of resigned sadness entered Yuuzhan's eyes. "They have begun to fight among themselves as well," he whispered softly, and Thass knew exactly what he was talking about. "They argue over who should have the glory of standing beside the Vua'sa as the leader of the Yuuzhan Vong."  
Thass bowed his head in grief. "Already they succumb to pride and power lust when they have just shaped what was to be a leader for them," he said sorrowfully.  
Yuuzhan nodded. "I have a suspicion that if it is not decided soon, the Vua'sa will either side with one of them and kill the others, or simply kill them all. The creature has no compassion, no reverence for life."  
Thass looked up at his mentor. "What are we to do about this latest development?" he asked.  
"A course of action is beginning to reveal itself to me," Yuuzhan said quietly, "but I dare not act upon it unless there is no other option."  
"Then what other options have we?" Thass asked slowly.  
"There is another danger," Yuuzhan evaded the question. "I have detected the arrival of many new ships of machine users; too many for the Yuuzhan Vong to deal with even with the aid of their new Warmaster. Even now the swelled fleet prepares its assault."  
Thass clenched his teeth. "It cannot be hopeless," he said. "Surely we cannot allow the Yuuzhan Vong to be pushed to extinction."  
Yuuzhan shook his head, weariness evident in the droop of his eyes, the cast of his curled shoulders, and the heaviness of the sigh which he now exhaled. "It seems that I am being forced, against all my better judgment, to fight alongside my errant offspring," he said. "Regardless of what the Yuuzhan Vong can wreak, a plague of these unflinching mechanical horrors would unbalance the Force far more."  
"Fight, Yuuzhan?" Thass asked, horrified. "But we have no weapons with which to join the battle. We have no planetary defenses."  
A dry, mirthless chuckle slipped from Yuuzhan's lips. "Ah, you forget, Thass of Domain Yenek, who instructed the shapers how to build weapons and ships and defenses in the first place. I possess far greater resources than the warriors guess, even more than you yourself suspect." His eyes turned grim and faraway. "Even now, plasma launchers and dovin basal shields are being grown in secret chambers. My personal gift to the war effort will be both defenses for this planet, and a corps of my personal warriors: you and your fellow students."  
"Warriors?" Thass was shocked. "But Yuuzhan, we do not fight. We have no knowledge of battle and killing."  
"I am afraid," Yuuzhan told him, "that you will be forced to learn both very quickly."  
  
High in the Citadel, Yo'gand sat with the chief intendants and Supreme Commanders of the war fleet to discuss the recent arrival of enemy ships detected by a rogue coralskipper patrol ranging out past the seventh planet. The Vua'sa bulked ominously at the end of the long, yorik coral conference table, red eyes turned in all directions to observe the gathered leaders. Many of the intendants in particular seemed wary of the Warmaster, but Yo'gand smirked at their twitches; he had an accord with the Vua'sa, and when it came time for a side to be taken, the Warmaster would stand squarely with him.  
The latest reports of enemy positions appeared in blazing, sketchy relief, formulated by humming blaze bugs that moved swiftly into a massive clump to represent the now-massive enemy group of starships that arrowed slowly but inexorably towards Yuuzhan'tar.  
Even Yo'gand could tell that there would be no victory for their current forces against such an immense invasion force. The tallies listed by the incoming villip transmissions indicated that more than four hundred heavy warships were present in the main body of the fleet. The Yuuzhan Vong's forces numbered less than a third of that number in their entirety.  
"There is no hope," one of the intendants muttered darkly, staring at the images. "We cannot possibly defeat an armada of that magnitude, nor even attempt to buy time for a shameful evacuation of personnel."  
"The odds are low," the Vua'sa rumbled from the other end of the table, "however, if we were to secure approximately two hundred more warships, we would be able to repel an offensive."  
"Two hundred?" the most bold of Yo'gand's opponents, a violent and short-tempered warrior named Steng, scoffed. "And how exactly do you propose that we come up with such reinforcements. Uh, Potent One," he added hastily as the Vua'sa's eyes flashed with deadly fury.  
Yo'gand entered the fray, taking a stance he knew would be popular with the more pious of the warriors and intendants, and one that might possibly influence any shapers who might hear this briefing to work more diligently. "The gods have not abandoned us, Steng," he said smoothly. "They have set before us a challenge only worthy of the glorious Yuuzhan Vong, and a challenge that we must accept!"  
"Yun-Yammka is daring, Yo'gand," Steng spat back, "but even Yun-Harla could not suddenly reveal vessels for us to destroy the enemy with."  
"Pray to the gods, Steng," Yo'gand returned sharply, "and even you, faithless though you are, might find reward and fulfillment." The other warrior shot to his feet, anger flaring in his face, but whatever outburst or challenge he was going to make was interrupted by a drone from the sealing membrane that closed the chamber off from the rest of the citadel.  
"Come!" the growl of the Vua'sa resonated through the room, and obediently, the living seal retracted into the coral walls with a sucking noise. Through the gap stepped a group of warriors, but a group of warriors unlike any that Yo'gand had seen.  
Their leader was a relatively tall Yuuzhan Vong, clad in a set of green vonduun crab armor, and boasting some variant species of amphistaff wound around his waist. The shining helmets of the small group were decorated in a manner unlike that of most warriors, styled with no ferocious symbols or significant tattoos, and cut quite simply, without scarring or lineage marks.  
The entire assembly rose to their feet as the strange warriors entered and stood in loose formation before the Vua'sa. Yo'gand looked closer, and thought he saw something familiar about the lead warrior through the eyeholes of his mask, but could not quite discern his identity.  
Steng spoke up first. "Who in the god's name are you, and why have you disturbed our council?" Scorn filled his voice with enough bite that Yo'gand would have leapt at him with coufee extended had the words been directed at him, but the leader did not even blink at the insult.  
He reached up languidly and removed the helmet, shaking back a full mane of black hair and staring confidently back at the scarred and tattooed Steng.  
"I am Thass Domain Yenek," he pronounced in a rolling confident tone that almost seemed to echo through the small chamber. "I come on behalf of Yuuzhan, bearing warriors and vessels to join the fight against the infidel machine users."  
With a start, Yo'gand finally placed the leader of the warriors. Thass! Thass, an actual warrior! When the man had disappeared shortly after the commencement of the war against the machine users, Yo'gand had assumed that he was simply a coward. Now they discovered that he was somehow connected to Yun-Yuuzhan...?  
No. Yo'gand smiled. _Yuuzhan_, not _Yun_-Yuuzhan. It was a difference that he saw the others were bypassing completely, shock evident on their features. Now why would that tired old relic never fail to try and interfere in the rightful path of the Yuuzhan Vong? The gods had decreed that they would be conquerors, and they would make it so.  
Not everyone missed the tiny misconception that came with Thass' statement. Steng slowly grew ever grimmer in attitude, a wrathful darkness descending on his features like a slowly approaching thunderstorm. His hand grasped for an amphistaff not at his waist, for they had all left their weapons outside the membrane for safekeeping, and for safety from each other.  
"Yuuzhan," he sneered. "Why does he think to meddle with the true cause of the Yuuzhan Vong again? His time is past- the new order is at hand!"  
Again, Thass did not flinch from the vicious words, remaining calm and placid. Yo'gand did not see how that made him a better warrior, but it was clear that it was making him a voice that was easier to listen to.  
"We have brought many ships, with the promise of more to come," he said quietly, and with a strange sort of tone to his voice. Yo'gand focused more, and finally identified the wayward component from the set of Thass' features.  
He was depressed, Yo'gand realized suddenly. Thass did not want to fight in a war! His opinion of the other Yuuzhan Vong shifted again, from surprising warrior to inappropriate conundrum. It was clear that he was offering to fight under orders from Yuuzhan, yet he, in his heart, did not want to. A very curious business.  
However, more warriors were not to be refused.  
"Steng!" Yo'gand's voice rang out sharply, and the other whipped his head around to glare at Yo'gand. "I say we welcome more fighters and ships! Were we not just discussing that very deficiency?"  
A hiss like a volcano escaped Steng. "Coward!" he declared. "You doubt the courage of the Yuuzhan Vong!"  
"He is correct," the Vua'sa asserted in its massive bass tone. "More ships are needed."  
"Our own warmaster!" Steng shouted, playing to his audience, which Yo'gand now noticed, with some dismay, included a majority of the intendants and a good portion of the Supreme Commanders. "This beast that we have exalted is nothing more than a coward who doubts that the Yuuzhan Vong have the favor of the gods!"  
A rumbling mutter rang through the chamber, and as the Vua'sa's eyes roved, Yo'gand knew it had realized the situation as well.  
Steng was speaking again. "I say that the Yuuzhan Vong have no need of such cowards! The Yuuzhan Vong have no need of help from a planet tainted by cowards! The Yuuzhan Vong should have cast this place off long ago! I say we leave now, to build a pure home, a pure race of Yuuzhan Vong, where these cowards are not needed!"  
When his roar was answered by a shout of assent from most of the room, Yo'gand felt, for the first time in many klekkets, fear.  
  
Thass watched with a heavy heart as the first of the giant mataloks lifted from the many landing fields strewn over the equator of Yuuzhan'tar, carrying their burden of Yuuzhan Vong towards the black heavens above. His sadness was only deepened by the realization that it was their involvement that had brought about this catastrophe.  
"Steng is a fool," a voice said from behind him, and Thass turned to see Yo'gand striding purposefully towards him. "Were it not for the fact that he has some talent at inciting a crowd, the Vua'sa would have killed him where he stood. Should have, in my opinion." The warrior stopped beside Thass, looking up into the sky, glancing at the majesty of the Sky Bridge.  
"Death is not the answer," Thass answered without thinking, and immediately cursed himself roughly. Missteps were not to be lightly made at this point in time. Yuuzhan had already made it clear that for the warriors to learn anything of the Force and its ways would be a disaster, and Thass wanted no part in such an error.  
Yo'gand shot him a curious look. Surprisingly, he did not seem to wish to pursue that matter, but instead asked, "Why is it that you came to enlist? You are not a true warrior."  
Realizing he was skating perilously close to the edge, Thass took his time in answering. "I obey when I am commanded." He thought for a second. "The Yuuzhan Vong cannot be allowed to die." There, that sounded proper.  
Yo'gand- why oh why had the man changed so?- seemed unconvinced. "Is that it?" he inquired softly. "Yuuzhan has not involved himself in the war at any point. Why then would he start now?"  
"Who are you to question a being of his knowledge and power?" Thass flared, and instantly realized it was a mistake.  
Yo'gand's backhanded slap knocked Thass to the stones, and he tasted blood in his cheek. He felt gingerly at the offending area, and his fingers came away wet.  
Yo'gand's shadow fell across him. "Do not presume to address me as though we were still friends, Thass of Domain Yenek," he said quietly, deadly in his whisper. "I will rule the Yuuzhan Vong one day, _warrior_," he spat mockingly. "Pray that you are not such a conundrum to me then as you are now."  
Footsteps signaled his departure, and Thass winced as he got up. A storm was brewing, and he did not think it would be pleasant riding through. 


	7. Upheaval

**Chapter 6- Upheaval**  
  
"Commander," the expressionless, totally obedient voice of a low- ranking soldier sounded out behind Battle Commander Dar'than V'g'no'kor just as he was about to enter his retiring cocoon, and he nearly swirled around and killed the pitiful creature with his blistering arsenal before the red tint of rage disappeared from his ocular implants.  
Still, it would not do for the thrall to go unpunished. As he rotated his massive, metal-enhanced body on its frame, Commander Dar'than stretched out one of his gleaming, chrome-finish fists and clutched it on the back of the thrall's neck as it knelt before him. With only a segmented breastplate and metal spikes protruding from the backs of its hands, it was truly an insignificant being compared to the might of Commander Dar'than's glorious enhancements.  
"Speak," the half-machine warrior commanded in a tone that promised instant death should the news not please him. He sensed a tremble run through the thrall as it suddenly comprehended its danger.  
"Commander," it began in a voice with no more expression than before, yet its posture indicated sudden and inexplicable terror. "General D'harhan bids me tell you that there is much on the bridge that you should come and inspect. He has news for you."  
The cloudy green of confusion wound its way across his metal eyes. D'harhan had had strict orders not to send for him until the weaklings of the planet were finally crushed beneath the renewed might of the Kar'shan Legions, and the massive metal soldier had no concept of disobedience. There must indeed be something important if he already had need of his commander.  
Commander Dar'than looked back down at the thrall, still trembling in the grip of his immense hand. With a whine of servomotors and a rumbling sigh like a furnace, he released the confining hold of his steely fingers and allowed the thrall to stand, gazing with distaste on its largely unmodified, imperfect form.  
"You have delivered your message," he told the smaller being. "Therefore, remove yourself from my sight."  
"Commander," the thrall genuflected, and sped hastily on whatever duties it had to perform elsewhere.  
Commander Dar'than nodded, and then strode purposefully down the hallway towards the nearest lift tube. Now for D'harhan.  
  
The main strategic display of the flagship's bridge was a massive, invisible ball of energy that assembled or dissolved shapes and symbols out of thin air to represent the situation. A pasty, faded globe dead center in the sphere was the beleaguered planet they had ensnared, and the massive cloud of green triangles represented the fleet of the Cremlevian Order. However, contrary to what had become common enemy tactics over the past months, a steady stream of red blips was fountaining outwards from the planet's equator, making purposefully for the inward third planet of the system.  
Commander Dar'than frowned with a creak of stressed joints. What in space were the barbarians doing? The planet they were bearing on was habitable, yes, but possessed no military or tactical significance; no settlements or emplacements marred its surface with their ugly organic blisters.  
"Suspicions, General?" Commander Dar'than rumbled to the massive, laser-topped D'harhan as the two mechanically-enhanced officers continued to watch the befuddling display.  
"If you will permit me, Commander?" D'harhan suggested in a flat monotone, gesturing towards the controls of the holo system. When Commander Dar'than nodded, he reached out and began punching in commands.  
When D'harhan had finished, the display shifted radically, transforming more into an actual camera than a tactical image. The focus zoomed in at lightning speed, and when the blurring had stopped, they were looking at the main landing field of the barbarians, loaded with their organic warships. However, the warships that were obviously fleeing the planet were not the only warships that the barbarians possessed. Almost half of the ships remained steady on the ground, and the spindly figures of barbarians had climbed onto the hulls of their living abominations and shook fists or shouted in their language at the fleeing craft.  
Commander Dar'than's eyes filmed yellow, a sign of intense pleasure that many of the mechanical soldiers had not witnessed before in their existence. "Then there is a civil war," he said in the satisfied tone of one who has just eaten the most filling meal of his life.  
"That is my conclusion, Commander," D'harhan said in his monotone voice, segmented tail flexing gently due to some unidentifiable impulse. The tracking signals on his laser cannon head flashed yellow amidst a spout of steam that occasionally jetted from his innards.  
"Excellent," Commander Dar'than said as he turned away from the display. "We shall let the barbarians destroy themselves for us."  
  
The war council of the remaining intendants, Warmaster, and Yo'gand's loyalists, was held hurriedly in the same chamber of the Citadel as when Steng's impassioned words had fractured the already endangered Yuuzhan Vong and threatened to send their entire species into annihilation. The mood was grim, and not even the simmering Vua'sa could seem to conjure up words to inflame the warrior's minds.  
Thass sat uneasily in the seat that had been hastily given to him. He felt even less confident about their position now than he had when Yuuzhan had first given him this assignment. The confrontation with Yo'gand down on the landing field had unnerved him. It was clear that whatever- whoever- Yo'gand used to be, he was now moving along a path of blood and conquest.  
The angry mutterings of a thousand little squabbles ricocheted off of every coral wall and especially inside Thass' mind. The entire planet had been pushed to the edge of exploding into a thousand more factions with Steng's abrupt decision to divide the Yuuzhan Vong, and by all appearances, it could very well happen within this very chamber.  
"Order!" Yo'gand's voice cut through the quarreling with the intensity of a blast bug. Even the rumbling Vua'sa silenced itself as everyone turned to the impassioned warrior who now stood on his side of the table.  
"We cannot argue amongst ourselves," he said when the atmosphere had quieted enough to permit conversation again, eyes flashing in a frightening kind of purpose, a strange intensity pouring off of him. "That is merely the seed which the traitorous Steng has planted in our midst. Should we continue along that path, the Yuuzhan Vong shall squabble and die in a hail of mechanical blasphemies."  
"Abominations," someone muttered.  
"Yo'gand is correct," the Vua'sa growled. "The Yuuzhan Vong must stand together as a whole to face this invasion. Stand together, or be crused."  
Another of the warriors rose defiantly to his feet. "And yet now we are fractured, finding ourselves on the brink of a civil war. How, exactly, do you propose that we circumvent _that_ particular shortcoming?"  
Yo'gand's eyes flashed again with that fanatical rage that had possessed him since his self-inflicted transformation into the battle- hungry warrior he now was. "Do you lack courage that you should withdraw from such a struggle with the traitorous Steng? Or are you simply a cowardly subspecies of Yuuzhan Vong that I have failed to notice infesting our ranks?"  
His fists struck the table with devastating force. "We are the true warriors!" He thundered to assembled Yuuzhan Vong, and in spite of himself, Thass felt his blood race through his veins. The man was nothing if not charismatic. "We have the favor of the gods, and nothing can stand in our way. All that the gods ask of us is that we be true to their service!" His voice rose in pitch. "Let the sacrifices be redoubled! Let us show the gods exactly how faithful the true Yuuzhan Vong are!"  
  
The conference chamber at the peak of the Citadel was silent now, absent the quarreling intendants and commanders that had so angered Yo'gand less than an hour previous. Already, ashes and wisps of greasy smoke wound skywards from altars raised to Yun-Yammka, his command for sacrifice already beginning its grisly work among the people.  
Thass watched as the zealous leader paced in a loose pattern around the Vua'sa, whose glowing eyes never ceased to track his movements. The Warmaster stood utterly still, a terrifying symbol to the bloodshed that it promised to unleash upon the universe. In contrast, Yo'gand's jerky, unsettled motions brought to mind a pacing bissop, and one very learned in the ways of the hunt. Short, ragged breaths rung themselves from his lungs, and his eyes raved about, seeing nothing.  
Thass himself stretched out to the Force for calm, letting its soothing flow wash over his mind, focusing him, giving him clarity. He knew he would desperately need it in the coming months. The war against the machines was far from over, and he was certain that Yo'gand at least did not trust him in the slightest.  
"I have completed my calculations," the Vua'sa rumbled suddenly, breaking Yo'gand's feverish circuit of the room and snapping his head around as if by a slapping blow. "There may be a way to defeat Steng, if caution is used."  
Yo'gand hissed in delight. "Speak, warmaster," he commanded, turning his eyes to Thass. "I have no doubt that my comrade wishes as well as I to hear how best we may unite the Yuuzhan Vong for the glory of the gods."  
A sickening feeling blossomed in the pit of his stomach as Thass inclined his head in a slight acknowledgement. "Indeed." Anticipation and anxiety soured his breath as the massive Warmaster leant forward to speak.  
"Because of the relative youth of Yuuzhan Vong military tactics," the Vua'sa began slowly, "there has been little time to adjust to those same weapons being used against other Yuuzhan Vong."  
A snarl erupted on Yo'gand's features. "No one could have predicted the betrayal offered up by Steng."  
"This gives us an advantage," the Vua'sa continued implacably, as though the high-caste Yuuzhan Vong had not spoken.  
"What do you mean?" Thass interjected calmly, though his bowels churned with an acid fear he could not describe or fully analyze with his mind. Roughly, he shoved the emotion away.  
The Vua'sa's many glistening teeth bared themselves in a predatory smile. "We have a Warmaster," it confided slowly, as if revealing some great and noble secret that would be instantly enlightening.  
_So, it is not immune to temptation or conceit,_ Thass thought, somewhat smugly, and realized at the same time that this was not necessarily a beneficial development.  
"I have completed a line of thought which suggests of a way to possibly bring Steng to defeat without a major battle," the Warmaster said.  
Yo'gand took in a gasping breath. "That would be most desirable," he said quickly. "How?"  
"We will have to rely on subterfuge," the Vua'sa said firmly, and then turned its awful gaze on Thass. "And I highly suspect that the perfect candidate for such a venture stands before us."  
  
_-AN: I apologize for delaying, both on this story and my other projects. However, summer holidays are slow for everyone, and I hope that I can resume full speed when the year begins. Hope everyone is enjoying the story! – Sci-Fi Nerd  
  
P.S.- A continued thanks to skwalker 05, who is always pushing for more chapters! Keep it up!_


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